CalPal

-13-

Chapter Thirteen

    It was a few days before MCC and Dream and I were taking a break from practicing. We've barely spent any time together this week since we've both been in separate rooms with our teammates on call practicing.

    "I'm gonna drive home tonight," I told him as we sat side by side on the couch together watching some trashy one star movie on amazon. This has become our thing. We'd pick the worst movie we could find and make fun of it for the duration it played.

    "You could stay though!" He exclaimed, turning his body toward me.

    "I can't play MCC on my laptop. That's like self sabotage, Clay."

    "But I like having you here."

    I smiled, "How thoughtful; you have emotions."

    He rolled his eyes, scoffed, then shoved me in the opposite direction of him.

    "I've definitely stayed longer than I expected though," I told him.

    "We never even went swimming!"

    "You didn't even want to do that!" I laughed.

    "But you did!"

    "Next time, Clay."

    We finished up our movie, then sat on the couch talking for hours on end. At one point, we took at least a hundred selfies on each of our phones since we didn't have any photo memories of me visiting yet. At one point, we even started talking about Sap and George. I really don't know how they even came into a conversation.

    "Are you serious?" I exclaimed, throwing my head forward on Dream's chest as I burst out laughing.

    "Yeah! I'm serious! We actually were thinking of moving in with each other, but then we fought over discord for three hours about where we'd live and we couldn't compromise on a place. George seriously suggested Sapnap and I move all the way to the U.K.."

    I laughed even harder, "Of-Of course he would do that."

    "To be fair, we all suggested moving to each other's locations."

    "Are you guys still thinking about it?"

    "Maybe when we're a bit older, like in two or so years. Sap is still in college so we'll at least wait until he's graduated."

    I nodded my head in understanding. Then, Dream's phone went off with a Snapchat notification. When we both looked at it, it was just a very close up picture of George's eye. There was no context, no text, literally just a picture of his eye. Dream didn't even seem thrown off by this. Now I'm wondering how many strange, random snaps Dream and him send back and forth. He was quick to send a picture of his eyebrow back to George. Rapidly, George had sent another snap back. It was just a picture of his finger. I didn't say anything as I watched Dream send back a picture of the corner of the coffee table.

    Afterwards, Dream dropped his phone on his lap and we just locked eyes. We stayed staring at each other as I kept my eyebrows raised in questioning. Suddenly, we burst out laughing. I threw my head forward into his chest and his face buried at the top of mine. I felt his hands wrap around my waist. The only sound that filled the room was his wheezing and me trying to catch my breath.

    "Do—Do you and him do that regularly?" I asked, raising my head from his body and connecting eye contact with him again. His eyes were watering and I felt myself stifle a laugh as a tear fell down his cheek from laughing too hard.

    "I don't know how it started. Maybe it was the feet pics that started it."

    "Feet pics?" I exclaimed. He started laughing again, "Please Clay, I'm begging you. Never send me feet pics or I will block you."

    "You don't want to see my feet? I'm offended."

    "Feet are gross."

    "Can you send me feet pics?"

    "Clay, no!" I shouted.

    We put on another one star movie as background noise while we continued to talk about the most random things. We went on our phones for a little bit as well, but once Dream noticed that my Twitter feed was just talking about Dream and I, he stole my phone and will not give it back now. I don't understand why me visiting Dream was such a big deal in the community. Everyone has known that we're friends; we publicly talk about and to each other all the time. Maybe it's because of the fact that barely anyone has seen Dream's face, no one has seen mine. So the fact that we know what each other look like now might be a big deal.

    It was getting late and I knew I had to leave within the hour if I wanted to make it home without stopping. Though, I could feel myself already getting tired and I'd probably have to put myself in a hotel halfway through the trip.

    "Stay another night," Dream whispered. The lights were off in the living room. The TV's bright hue shone on our faces. I now have my head laying in Dream's lap as I get continuously drowsy. The fact that he was petting my head and running his fingers through my hair wasn't helping me stay awake at all.

    "It's been a week and a half; I really should go home."

    "Salem, you're tired. Just stay tonight and leave tomorrow sometime."

    I hummed, "Mmm, fine. Only 'cause you're so convincing."

    He chuckled, "Do you wanna go to bed?"

    "Yeah, but I don't want to move. I'm gonna sleep on the couch."

    "Alright, I'm gonna head to bed then. Do you want me to carry you to your room?"

    He started to get up and I furiously shook my head, "Wait no, I'm comfy. You're my pillow. Why are you moving? Pillows aren't supposed to move."

    "Would you like me to stay?"

    "Mm, sure. Only if you want to."

    "I want to."

    He reached for the remote and turned off the television. When it was pitch black, we adjusted on the couch so that we could be more comfortable. Dream laid down the full length of the couch, then I laid down next to him with half my body on his. My head was laying on his chest and I could hear the steady fast pace of his heartbeat. His hand was gently rubbing at my back while both his arms wrapped around my waist. It was silent other than our breathing. Out of all the moments we shared since I arrived, this was definitely one of my top five favorites.